Tipsy Tutorials: I Can Re-position Wonder Under!

So, first of all, I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by for my day of the Holiday Lane Pillow Hop.  I had so much fun and am still enjoying the comments that keep coming!  I will answer every one, but it will take a little while.  I can't imagine those bloggers who get hundreds of comments on posts--they must be much more full-time on the computer than I am.  I did end up buying a new backing for the wall hanging when I was at the quilt store in town on another matter :)

Another bigger project that I took on a couple of months ago was an advent calendar.  I love Christmas Countdowns, and have wanted a nice one for a couple of years that is more versatile--to put love notes in, activity suggestions, service projects, candies, or whatever strikes my fancy for the year.  I have some really cute smaller ones that simply count the days, but I. want. something. more.  (No snickers from the peanut gallery :)

Sooo, back in September I printed out the directions and bought the fabric.  Here is the original tutorial and picture:

Picture via Sew, Mama, Sew! and Elizabeth at O, Fransson!

After some shopping around, I settled on fabrics from the Blitzen line by Basic Grey for Moda.  I was doing great until it came to sewing on the numbers for the pockets ... or rather I didn't even get quite that far.

I'm so used to the quarter-inch mantra I've learned this year that I didn't double check the instructions before I started ironing things and, well, I ironed all the numbers too close to the edge to properly sew the pockets together.  Of course, I didn't even realize this until I was on #23--really!  See the nice small space between each of the numbers and the seams above--mine would not have that.  So, as is typical of me, I set the project aside and buried it so I didn't have to look at the frustrating failure until I decided what to do.  (I don't have enough of my chosen solids to just make whole new pockets.)

Working on my Holiday Lane Pillow put the advent calendar back in the forefront of my mind.  I started thinking and thinking ... well, you don't need all the crazy details, but I did come up with one idea.  I decided to see if I could re-position the numbers.  Not terribly original, but hey, I've never appliqued before and never used wonder under either.  That stuff seems like it sticks pretty hard and fast.

So, the other day, I started peeling.  For the most part the numbers come off not too bad.  Of course #1 peeled right off, no problems--no fraying, no glue left behind--just a nice clean pocket and perfectly shaped number.  I could still feel the sheen of the adhesive on the back, so I thought, "Still in business ..."

I fired up my iron ... well heated it up, anyway ...

re-positioned it to the proper 1/2-inch from the edges ...

and pressed good and well.

Voila, it stuck again!  Success!!

Who knew?  I certainly couldn't find any tips like that in my searches, so I share it with you now :)  I probably wouldn't do this if I wasn't already planning to machine stitch around the edges, but for this project I think it will work out OK.

A couple of tips I figured out:

* Try to use the pads of your fingers to help peel off the old placement.  Using the tips of my fingers/fingernails tended to fray the edges a bit.  If it ends up bothering me too much, I'll just re-cut-out a few of the numbers rather that re-doing everything.  I can live with that :) 

* On some of the numbers, a little glue was left behind.  I found that lightly scraping with my fingernail or the side of my bone folder distorted the fabric locally, so I stopped that right quick.  I ended up just leaving it and ironing over it.  That seemed to take care of it.  There wasn't really a residue left on my iron, either, so that made me happy.  I'll probably clean the plate of my iron when I'm done with all the pockets just to make sure no gummy residue is left to transfer to other projects.

* Go slowly!  You don't want to stretch your pieces out of shape or leave behind too much adhesive.  It might have taken me seconds to make the mistake, but as with anything, a real fix will take a bit of time.  I put on some Christmas music and reminded myself that it's not a race :)  There is no deadline, so if I don't have it ready for advent season this year, its OK.

Please feel free to add your own Wonder Under tips/stories to my own :)  You know that misery loves company.  I don't feel so new when I know other more experienced souls have had similar blunders learning experiences.